La Paz P2

Arriving back into the congested city of La Paz I realised how good it was to get away and have fresh air for four days. We enjoyed warm showers and clean clothes in preparation for playing golf on the highest golf course in the world. We decided not to buy memberships here as it was not the best way to spend $35,000 each.

With our caddies by our sides we headed to the first hole. As we approached the first hole all I thought was holy crap if this is the first hole how the hell am I going to make it through nine holes. On the first hole to make to the green you had to hit the golf ball across a huge hole filled with moon hills .

However I surprised myself easily clearing the distance on my second ball. Took “man friend” 3 tries. Ok, ok he was on the man tee off which was further back than the lady one.

Heading down the second fairway ‘awi’ something bit me. As my caddie and I searched the ground to find the venomous culprit we saw that it was a bee pulled out the stinger and continued on playing until I realised my arm was slowly ballooning up so we headed up to the club rooms for some ice. After icing up the sting we headed back out to continue our nine hole game. For the rest of the game my caddie now was lucky enough to not only be my club holder but also my ice holder.

As we headed towards the 6th hole I saw a guy lurking around the edge and got a little worried thinking we will probably get mugged or kidnapped or something. Then I just realised he was selling golf balls, as the course is renowned to eat many golf balls in a game.

Towards the 7th and 8th hole I grew a little bored of the game. This I think the ‘man friend’ was happy about as it meant his games of golf back home with the boys weren’t in any danger of being taken over by the girlfriend.

To celebrate my first ever full nine hole game of golf we headed out on the town for a few celebratory drinks.

Chacaltaya and the Valley of the Moon tour.

Today the plan was to hike up a Chacaltaya mountain for a breath taking view. Chacaltaya was the “highest commercial ski area” in the world although very little sking takes place nowadays and it is mainly visited to witness the stunning views of the Cordillera Real mountain range from Chacaltaya’s 5300 meter peak. However as our trip to Bolivia has shown things don’t always go to plan but great things still happen.

On our way up to the mountain barely 10min drive out of the downtown La Paz we were greeted with snow. Not just a little slate style either. It was beautiful white snow covering the roads and creating magical ambiance to the area. With the roads sufficiently covered in snow it was looking doubtful whether we would make it the whole way up the mountain. So the new plan now was to continue driving until there was too much snow and we could drive no more. This was a great plan if you were in a 4WD or had snow chains for the tours not the simply small everyday minivan we were in with tyre tread barely roadworthy under Australian circumstances.

After sliding and skidding a few times the driver decided this was as far as we could go and it was now time to get out and walk. This was fine with me as for once I was dressed for the cold and couldn’t wait to stomp and frollick in the snow.

Along the way we some mountains that should look familiar to everyone……

After a few hours of playing in the snow we headed back to La Paz and over to the Valley of the moon.